Lawmakers Urge Apple and Google to Remove TikTok as Appeals Court Denies Delay of January 19 Ban

Dec 13, 2024, 04:25 PM

TikTok faces a looming ban in the United States as a January 19 deadline approaches for its parent company, ByteDance, to divest the popular video-sharing app or face removal from app stores. The U.S. Justice Department has requested that the court reject TikTok's bid to delay the law that would require divestiture, and an appeals court has denied TikTok's request to temporarily halt the pending ban, paving the way for a potential Supreme Court showdown. Lawmakers, including Reps. John Moolenaar and Raja Krishnamoorthi, have urged Apple and Google to prepare to remove TikTok from their app stores if ByteDance fails to comply. The ban aims to address national security concerns over alleged ties between ByteDance and the Chinese Communist Party. TikTok is scrambling in federal court to halt the law, arguing that it would eliminate hundreds of jobs and terminate contracts.